


Rule of Rivaille

by Nowl



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, actaully probably whole plot points not within the time period, crossdresser!Levi - Freeform, dialogue totally not within the time period, ereri, i honestly just wanted an excuse to put Levi in a dress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2017-12-30 00:37:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nowl/pseuds/Nowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Eren's parents die in a fire, he and Mikasa have to find work. They end up in the castle of King Erwin where they serve by cleaning the castle.<br/>But when Eren is chosen by the king's ward Rivaille to be their personal manservant he begins to see what it really means to be royalty and - more specifically - what it means to be loved by one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Eren was curoius, to say the least."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys, this is my first fic I've written in a couple years so bare with me here.
> 
> I just really wanted to contribute to all the Ereri, you know?
> 
> Also, the rating will probably change and there will be more pairings later. I just don't have this whole thing completely thought out yet, you know? Wanna see if it goes anywhere first.

Eren had once thought himself too important to do something as demeaning as being on a staff of servants for anyone. He once thought his father’s status as a doctor insured an acceptable future as he was being trained to take over. He once thought his future would be blissful, taking care of a wife and children and helping Mikasa with his nieces and nephews.

Eren was eleven years old the day their house was burnt to the ground with his parents inside. He had held Mikasa’s hand and cried for the future that was slowly burning to the ground.

They’d lived with Armin and his elderly grandfather until they were old enough to look for work. Armin had frowned at them, but he was unable to help. Armin was smart enough to find a real job, he wanted to be a teacher and Eren knew for certain he would be able to do it.

He and Mikasa spent two years doing odd jobs for people; making deliveries, helping out when people who had real jobs were sick or injured, but their tiny village didn’t seem to have any work for two teenagers just looking to support themselves.

It was begrudgingly that Eren suggest to Mikasa that they ask about being servants in the nearby castle.

She leveled him with a look that suggested she would throttle him if he screwed this up for them. He hadn’t exactly shown great patience thus far when being told he had to do something but by then he was just so starving he was almost willing to do anything. If this didn’t work out they might have to move to the city and sell themselves for money. Which, he knew for certain Mikasa wouldn’t let him do so he would be stuck watching her sell herself. That was not a good alternative to think about.

They began work in the castle immediately. Its ruler, King Erwin seemed to be a fair enough man. Or at least less cruel than the tyrannical kings and queens Eren and Mikasa had heard about as children. The teens were given almost entire days of work at first and were lead around by the others until they could work on their own. It was only a few weeks before they were working as fluidly as the servants that had been there for years.

Eren didn’t even have the time to hate any of it between scrubbing the floors in all the hallways, helping with the laundry, serving meals every so often, or tending the stables. He and Mikasa were utterly exhausted all the time.

It was almost a blessing to have the gatherings every so often when the King would choose a new handmaiden/manservant for his ward. Eren had never seen her (or any of the other royals who lived in the castle) himself, his low rank not earning him entrance into the throne room or the wing of the castle where the royals slept. He had been told by the other male servants at dinner that she was beautiful, however, and any one of them would give up their limbs to share a bed with her for one night.

Eren was curious, to say the least. 

* * *

After all the chores had are done and the sun has set, the servants convene in the underground dining hall adjacent to their equally underground living quarters. Eren sits beside Mikasa, idly stirring his soup. Knowing that it had been Connie and Sasha to cook for them that night makes him wary of how good it would be but he tears at his bread ravenously, having not eaten since early that morning. He thinks absently that even as little as they are fed here it was still much more than they’d had living with Armin.

“Connie, what the hell did you do to this shit?” Jean asks, spitting his soup back out.

“I’m not forcing you to eat it,” Connie replies, sulking slightly.

“Plus it was Sasha who actually made the soup; I just cut everything up to put in it.”

“Hey, don’t try to throw the blame on me!” she pouts.

“Mikasa, tell Connie to stop being mean!”

Eren thinks its funny most of them have placed Mikasa and Annie as the “mother” figures, not that either of them really act like it. “It is pretty shitty,” Mikasa says, taking tiny sips.

Eren, Jean, Connie, and Reiner laugh at the stricken look on Sasha’s face. “I just can’t win with you guys.”

“Alright guys, stop teasing Sasha,” Marco chastises.

If anyone is the mother figure, it’s Marco. “Sorry mom,” Jean choruses with a grin as Marco blushes.

Annie punches Jean on the shoulder. “Ow!” he shouts and the others giggle.

“Don’t start teasing Marco too,” Annie says, taking her bowl to the kitchen.

Jean rubs his shoulder. “Jeez, you don’t gotta be so rough about it!”

When Annie comes back she punches him even harder in the other shoulder. “Don’t be a baby,” she says and continues walking. “I’m turning in for the night.”

“Night Annie!” Christa calls as she disappears into the hallway.

“So guys,” Jean says after a moment of quiet. “Who do you thinks’ going to be the ward’s next servant?”

“The last one got canned already?” Reiner asks.

“Yeah,” Ymir replies. “She came down around lunchtime bawling her eyes out.”

“No way, what’d she do to her?” Eren asks.

“I heard she smacked her around and tried to push her down the stairs,” Bertolt adds, pushing his soup away slowly.

“Damn,” Ymir says. “Didn’t think it was that bad, the girl just looked like she’d had one too many buttons pushed.”

“For as pretty as you guys keep telling me she is, that doesn’t make her sound worth it,” Eren says, putting down his spoon.

All the guys level a stare at him. “Anything would be worth it for her,” Connie says.

“I’ll believe that when I see her,” he replies. “Which reminds me, where have you guys seen her? Literally the only royal I’ve seen since I got here is the king.”

“Wait until the king hosts an event,” Christa says. “All the servants are expected to be present to help out. You can scope out everyone then.”

“Okay, can we get back on topic?” Jean asks. “Who’s next?”

“Who knows?” Sasha says, finishing her soup. “It used to only be the head maids but they seem to be taking anyone not terrified of her now.”

“I think it’ll be Annie,” Marco says. “She’s the most professional of all of us.”

“If you’re going on professionalism it definitely won’t be anyone at this table,” Reiner says. “You guys are all goofs except for Mikasa.”

“Gee thanks Reiner, we love you too,” Bertolt says wryly, rolling his eyes.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then what did you mean it like?” Jean asks, crossing his arms.

“I just mean-“

Suddenly they realize the entire room has gone deadly silent. They all look around to see the others all staring at the doorway at the top of the stairs. There stands the king, broad and intimidating, leveling an intense stare on the entire room. After a long moment he points to their table. “You kids, come with me,” he commands. With a swish of his cape his disappears from the hall.

They all look at each other before getting up and quickly making their way behind the king. Sasha hides behind Mikasa and Christa takes Ymir’s hand. All of them silently trying to figure out what’s going on and why they’re the ones being led off when they are done working for the day. Eren feels like their being led off for slaughter but one glance at Mikasa makes him feel a bit more at ease somehow.

They’re led into the throne room and suddenly Eren feels like he did watching his house burn down; tiny and helpless.

The king takes his seat and nods to the four people standing at the nearby door. “Bring her in,” he says and the only woman in the small group nods and disappears into the door. He stares at them. “Line up so we can see all of you.”

Quickly they form a line and as a second thought they all salute the king; one arm behind their back, one fist over their heart. The woman returns with another in tow. Suddenly Eren knows why they’re here. The woman is the king’s ward; she stands by the king and looks them all over appraisingly.

Eren finds his cheeks warming slightly as he takes her in. Black ringlets fall over pale shoulders, shrewd grey eyes framed with thick eyelashes and coal. Her mouth is faintly colored with rouge. She wears ruby chandelier earrings and a matching ruby necklace that make her pale neck seem longer. Her gown is green with a tight bodice and long, loose, see-through red sleeves that trailed to the floor and a see-through red train attached with a ruby broach to the center of the back of her hips. He absolutely knows what Connie and the guys meant now.

“Do you see any you like, my dear?” the king asks softly. She cocks her head slightly and picks up her dress as she takes the five steps down to their level to check them out more thoroughly. “Kind of dirty, aren’t they?” she asks.

Eren is taken aback slightly by her voice. It seems too high and somehow false. “An easy fix, I’m sure,” he replies absently.

As she goes down the line of them, Eren just thinks about how much he wants to go to bed and wonders why the others, especially Reiner, seem to be so afraid of her. After all their big talk about her “being worth anything” they seem to want to be ten miles away from her. Her gaze finally lands on him and he holds it silently. She cocks an eyebrow, something about his reaction unexpected, but continues down the line. She walks back over to the king and announces, “I’ve decided.”

“Which one, my dear?” the king asks.

Eren swallows thickly when her eyes fall directly onto him. “The boy with the teal eyes,” she says and leaves the room the way she came.

“The rest of you may leave,” the kings says.

Mikasa instantly grabs Eren’s sleeve. They stare at one another for a moment before he says, “I’ll be alright, go ahead.”

Begrudgingly, she lets Sasha and Christa pull her out of the room, but glares at the king as they do so. The king seems wholly unfazed. “Petra, take him to the bathing chamber,” he says. “The rest of you three prepare his new room.”

The quartet salutes the king and the woman comes over to Eren when the other three leave as well. She smiles and leads him out by his hand. 

“I’m Petra,” she says once they are away from the king. “Welcome to life under the rule of Rivaille.”


	2. “You understand? No one will hear of this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really miss Petra, alright?

As he follows Petra down the hallway, Eren thinks about how stupid it is that he got a better position in the servant staff before Mikasa did; of the two of them she was clearly the quicker, more efficient worker. Hell, he sometimes caught himself daydreaming when the monotony of scrubbing floors finally got to him. Which usually only took minutes to happen.

Petra looked back at him as she continued walking. "Do you want me to start telling you about how things work on this side now or after your bath?" Petra asks, starting him from his thoughts.

"Uh, now I guess," he replies quietly.

Somehow it feels wrong to Eren to talk too loud in the wing with the royal quarters but Petra seems to have no problem with it as she begins to go over rules and daily assignments; "The first thing to know is Rivaille places cleanliness in the highest regard, you are expected to bathe at least once a day but twice should a particular situation call for it. You are to wake Rivaille at Daybreak every morning, if you're too early I cannot guarantee your safety but if you're a little late you might get yelled at but that'll be the worst of it - Rivaille expects tea and the curtains to be drawn upon your entrance."

Eren listens as intently as he can but the hallway is long and there is too much to look it so it’s a little hard to completely focus. "You will help Rivaille bathe and in the afternoon you will take on whatever tasks Rivaille has for you, usually assisting with target practice to going along on a horseback ride or something else like that. Outside of his particular tasks for you, you will help me and boys cook, launder the clothes, and clean up Rivaille’s and our bedchambers."

"That doesn't seem so hard, why does Rivaille seem to cycle through servants so fast?" Eren asks.

Petra smiled knowingly. "Rivaille is a very particular person."

She leads him into a small room with a large tub against the far wall. "Strip," Petra says and moves to the cabinets to pull out two bottles, a bucket, and a washrag.

Suddenly Eren is nervous. The only woman to ever see him naked was Mikasa and that was strictly because they'd always lived in such close quarters they sometimes had to get changed in the same room. "Oh you're too precious," Petra says with a giggle. "C'mon now, it’s nothing I've never seen before, I share living space with three men.”

He shoots her a look, his entire face heating up as he goes to pull off his shirt. He pulls off his pants a little too quickly and stumbles into the tub shallowly filled with lukewarm water. Petra hums as she dumps water over his head and goes to work shampooing his hair. "Your hair's dirtier than it looks," she says absently.

"Sorry," Eren replies.

"No big deal," she says. "You see how light my hair is? It was brown when I got here from all the dirt. You’re lucky your hair's dark so it's harder to tell."

Eren cracked a smile at that as Petra giggles. She dumps more water over him to wash out the shampoo. She picks up a washcloth next and covers it in soap before washing his back. "Next time you'll have a shower brush so you can do all of this yourself but for the transition between serving the castle and serving Rivaille it's easier to have help with the nooks and crannies," she says as she scrubs around his ears and into the top of the shell. "Betcha without me here you wouldn't even think of washing your ears.”

She hands him the washcloth. "Don't miss any spots," she says. "I have to go get you clean clothes."

While she's gone Eren washes everything below his waist and pays special attention to his feet before working on the stains on his hands. Petra comes in and smiles, clearly pleased. "Here's a towel and a change of clothes," she says. "The guys are waiting outside to show you to your room and then Rivaille says he wants to meet with you."

Eren whips his head around so fast he hears his neck crack. “He?” he asks with disbelief.

Petra just smiles nervously. “Oops,” she says quietly. “See you in the morning!”

With that, she leaves with a sprint, nearly tripping over her skirt.

Eren stands and dumps the bucket over himself again, rinsing off the last of the suds before stepping out of the tub. He dries off and changes quickly in the trousers and tunic Petra left for him. He tells himself that Petra calling Rivaille “he” was just a slip of the tongue as he makes his way to the door. Outside three men are waiting for him, two smiling and the third scowling. “I’m Gunter,” says the man with the darkest hair. He gestures to the blonde, “This is Erd,” and then to the scowling man, “and Auruo.”

“I’m Eren.”

They began walking and Eren took to following. “Unlike the four of us,” says Erd. “You will have your own room between ours and Rivaille’s.”

“You three _actually_ share a room with Miss Petra? Isn’t this the rich end of the castle?”

“We’re still servants, kid,” Auruo says, “Although since there are four of us and we serve one of the ladies of the house we have a bigger room than normal.”

They stop in front of a wooden door closely flanked by two others. “This is your room,” says Gunter. “It used to be a closet but we’ve been told it’s still bigger than the rooms in the servant quarters.”

Eren opens the door to find it is indeed bigger than his old room, but only by a few square feet. The bed is bigger, though, and more comfortable looking even with the blankets and sheets still folded on top of the dresser in the corner. He even has a window now, small as it is. He notices a bell hanging from the ceiling with a string attached to it that is run into the wall. He decides not to ask about it in favor of looking back at the trio in the doorway. “Thank you,” he says, unsure what else to say.

“We’ll wake you up tomorrow,” says Erd, “To start teaching you about the routine around here. It’s gonna be pretty different from where you were before.”

“I’m used to a lot of work,” Eren says. “I used to have to scrub the main hall end to end every other morning.”

“That was you?” Auruo says and smirks, breaking his scowl for the first time. “Oh man, Hell Week is gonna be fun this time around.”

Eren quirks an eyebrow and asks, “What’s Hell Week?”

Erd laughs and Gunter tires not to as he says, “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, right now you have to see Rivaille.”

Eren finds himself confused by these four and their cryptic answers to his naïve questions. He follows them back out of his room and when they go right Erd says, “G’night kid,” and the three of them walk into the door on that side.

Eren takes a deep breath and goes to the left. Standing in front of Rivaille’s door he steels himself and knocks. “Come in,” calls a voice.

Rivaille is sitting at her desk, reading a rather large book. “Good evening,” Eren says, standing at the door.

“You can come in,” she says, “I won’t bite.”

Eren notices her voice is significantly deeper, but it sounds more natural than the pitch she’d been using in the throne room. He walks further in and stands by the desk where she sat. “What is that you’re reading?” he asks.

“Nothing you’ve ever heard of I’m sure.”

Eren rolls his eyes at that and is about to speak when she closes the book and looks up at him. Looking down at her, he wonders how tight her corset must be to make her chest so flat before berating himself for even looking. “Do you know why I picked you?” she asked, standing.

“I don’t,” he replies, following her with his eyes as she walks toward her bed.

When she glances back at him, he’s taken again by her eyes; the grey so striking he was sure if she wanted to she could kill with them. “This is why,” she says. “You can hold my gaze without looking away. Even that really big guy Erwin brought down was shaking when he saw me but seem to hold yourself on the same level as me.”

“I’m sorry I -“

She sighs, cutting him off. “It’s not a bad thing, brat, I just mean you seem sturdy enough of disposition not to crumble if I shout at you for something. There only seem to be a handful of people here who can handle that without crying.”

Eren just nods and glances back at the book on her desk when she looks away from him to start taking her jewelry off. “I have to ask you something brat,” she says.

“My name is Eren.”

She looks over at him and he swallows at the way her eyes smolder at him. “Did I say that was what I wanted to know?”

“You keep calling me brat, my name is Eren Jaeger.”

“Just shut up Jaeger.”

Eren stares back at her as she walks over. “Yes ma’am.”

She stops directly in front of him. “Are you actually going to listen if I ask you something?” Eren nods. “Good. For you to keep this position, you have to swear one thing to me right now.”

“Okay.”

“Anything you see or hear in these halls does not leave. Any secrets you hear, any things you see are never to be spoken of again unless you are given explicit permission from me, which you won’t.”

Eren’s eyebrows furrow. “Why are you telling me this right now?”

Her eyes bore into his. “Because for you to be my servant I have to tell you one of the biggest secrets up here right now,” she says, her voice quiet but intense. “So can you swear that to me?”

He nods slowly. “Yes ma’am.”

She took a step back. “Good.”

Eren stares with rapt attention as she sits her hand on top of her head. She pulls her wig off in a swift motion, sitting it on her bed and reaches to undo her dress. Ere swears his heart and lungs both stop moving as the dress hits the floor.

Eren suddenly understands why Petra let slip a “he” earlier.

Without the layers of fabric giving Rivaille a feminine shape, he is definitely not a woman – not even taking into account what is _clearly_ not a vagina between his legs just below the bottom hem of his corset. “Oh,” Eren says, feeling just how hot his face is.

“You understand? No one will hear of this.”

Eren nods slowly, suddenly feeling like he may be way in over his head.

And slightly less straight than he thought.


	3. "Good job brat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact!:  
> I handwrote half of this chapter before typing it and it made me realize when I write Eren's name my r's kind of look like v's so when I was rereading it his name looked like "even" instead of "eren".

Eren is still half asleep as Petra walks him through how to prepare Rivaille’s tea the next morning. She gives him a skeptical look when he nearly drops the tray on his way out the room but lets him go, deciding he’ll sink or swim on his own and she can’t really help him no matter how much she may want to.

Which reminds Eren, why does she seem so eager to help him? He wonders if it has something to do with Rivaille. When he enters the room, he stricken again by just how beautiful of a man Rivaille is, especially when he’s sleeping because there’s no chance those harsh eyes will try to burn him from the inside. He leaves the tea tray on the table by Rivaille’s bed before going to draw the curtains.

He pours the tea into a small cup on a saucer just as Petra told him as Rivaille stirs into wakefulness. He sits up with a stretch and a yawn as Eren says, “Good morning Rivaille."

“Levi,” he says. “Rivaille is my surname. You are to refer to me as Levi, sir, ma’am, mistress, whatever strikes your fancy, just not my family name.”

“Yes sir,” Eren says meekly and hands over the saucer with the teacup.

Levi takes a sip and glances at Eren cryptically before smirking, “Good job brat.”

Eren couldn’t help the small blossom of pride in his chest at that. “What next?” he asks.

“You help me get dressed for the day,” he replies. “You remember where you left my corset last night? Bring the black one this time.”

Eren walks dutifully to the closet he barely remembers going into last night, mostly only sure he’d actually gone into it from the tiny friction burns on his fingers from undoing Riva- Levi’s corset the night before. He picks up the black corset before returning to Levi’s side. Levi sets down the saucer and slides – Eren thinks rather seductively – from his bed dressed only in loose sleep pants. Eren slides the corset over the smaller man’s head – taken again by just how tiny he is – and Levi turns so Eren can get to the strings.

It’s then that Eren notices scars across Levi’s back – he wonders why he hadn’t noticed them the night before but then remembers how tired and in shock he was. From what he can see, they almost look like whip marks but he has no idea where or why a noble would’ve been whipped. At Eren’s hesitance, Levi gets agitated. “Get on with it brat,” he grouses.

Eren wants to keep examining the scars but dutifully begins tugging at the strings, finding it more difficult than he’d expected. “Tighter brat,” Levi says sounding a little strained.

Eren makes a face. “These strings are hurting my fingers as it is. How much tighter can I make this thing?”

“If I needed to, you could tie it until both sides are touching but for my purposes, they only need to meet about halfway so can you do that for me Jaeger?”

Eren doesn’t comment but wraps the strings around his fingers for better leverage when he tries to pull again. Levi gaps harshly at a particularly rough tug, making Eren blush. “Much better,” the shorter man pants.

“I get the strangest thing you’re kind of getting off on this,” Eren comments in a mumble.

“And if I am?” Levi asks with a smirk, giving Eren a sideways glance making Eren blush even harder. Levi barks out a laugh. “Oh dear, you are just too fun to tease Jaeger. Keep this up and I might just keep you around.”

Eren ties off the corset and steps back. “Okay, what’s next?”

“Makeup,” Levi says. “It’s fairly basic but if you’re too chicken shit, go get Petra for help.”

“What do I have to do?”

Levi talks him through the steps and Eren feels slightly awkward for basically straddling Levi’s lap the entire time but by the time he’s done, Levi is looking in the mirror without anger. “Satisfactory,” Levi says. “At least you’re less clumsy than the last girl I had in here. She always left such a mess.” Levi stands and Eren takes a few steps back. “Now for my gown.”

Eren goes to the wardrobe and opens it to find it stuffed with gowns in every color Eren could think of. “Um,” he looks back at Levi, who is smirking.

“Erwin spoils me a bit too much,” he says. “Pick a purple one; we have to go into town today.”

“Why purple specifically?”

“My favorite parasol is purple.”

Eren nods and turns back to the wardrobe, picking a dark purple dress with black sleeves and black flowers embroidered on the skirt. “Good choice brat, now help me get it on.”

Eren is sure he’ll end up breaking his fingers one day between the corsets and the dozens of buttons on these gowns. “Your wig is last?” he asks, doing up the last button.

Levi nods and holds out his hand for it, putting it on himself. “All I need you to do with this is make sure it’s on straight and none of my real hair is sticking out,” he explains absently while checking himself out in the mirror. “Now just remember all of those things and your time with me will go smoothly. Now accompany me to breakfast.”

Eren follows the shorter man out of the room and wonders how it’s possible any man could look this much like a woman. Granted, since he knew Levi was indeed a man he could pick out the subtle tells; the broadness of his shoulders, the barely there bump on his Adam’s apple, the shape of his jaw – but they were all sp slight he wasn’t surprised no one noticed. He wonders why Levi dresses as a woman at all. He wonders if it has something to do with the scars conveniently covered by the back of his gown.

He is confused when he’s led into the kitchen. It’s a sizable room with a table larger than one would usually find in a kitchen in a castle this size. Eren knows there is more than one kitchen in the castle but he finds it odd he’s being led into the one the royals aren’t usually served from. Petra and the guys are buzzing around setting food on the table where Levi is helping himself to a seat. “Wha-?”

Eren is cut off by Levi, “I prefer to eat with these guys rather than the king and the others who live here. Got a problem, Jaeger?”

“No,” Eren says, sitting as well. “Just wondering why.”

Levi butters a scone as he answers absently, “Outside of this room, the only people who know I’m a man are Erwin, Hanji, and my mother.”

“Who’s Hanji?” Eren asks.

Auruo scoffs, taking his own seat beside Petra. “Does _any_ news make it down to the servant quarters?”

Gunter rolls his eyes. “It’s not exactly new news.”

“Hanji is the king’s betrothed,” Erd clarifies for Eren.

Eren nearly drops his own scone as he startles. “The king’s getting married? Since when?”

Petra giggles at Eren. “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about our benevolent ruler being impotent? They’re true, he’s can’t and doesn’t want to marry because of it.”

“Is Hanji okay with that?”

Levi snorts. “Hanji is blessedly ecstatic so long as she has a cadaver to dig around in.”

“Doesn’t the king get, like, lonely or something?” Eren asks.

Petra shrugs. “Some of us like to think that’s why so many people live here. He thinks of some of them, Levi especially, as the children he could never have.”

Eren frowns, having found a new respect for the king. “Erwin fancies himself a hero,” Levi says quietly.

“That sounds somehow bit-“

“I forgot to mention,” Levi says, effectively cutting Eren off. “When I told you to pick what to call me earlier; you can’t call me Levi or anything masculine in front of anyone who doesn’t know I’m a man.” 

Eren nods. “I figured.”

Everyone is quiet for a few minutes, just eating alone with their thoughts. Eren glances at Petra to find her looking back at him, her eyes looking hopeful. Eren was about to ask why when Auruo stands up from the table, leaving his plate in the sink before making his leave. The others do the same until Eren is alone with Levi and Petra, who is also standing to clear the table. “When we have lunch with Erwin and the others later you’ll see why I prefer eating here,” Levi says. “Which, you won’t be allowed to sit at the table with us. You will stand by me and wait until we’re all finished. I’ll warn you ahead of time that they’ll be talking about you so don’t let them get in your head.”

Eren nods, despite the being unsure of what Levi means. When Levi stands from the table, he does as well and says goodbye to Petra before following Levi from the room.

“Until lunch, we’ll be visiting Hanji,” Levi says. “She has a hut a little ways outside of the castle where she conducts her experiments that’s just secluded enough that no one bothers to ask questions.”

As they make their way through the castle, Eren is a little put off by all the people staring at him. “What are they looking at?”

Levi glances at him, but mostly keeps his eyes ahead. “Scoping out the new meat.”

“Why?”

“They want to know how quick it’ll be before I fire you too.”

“Are you planning on firing me?”

Levi stops and looks back at him. “Have you given me a reason to yet?”

“I don’t know. Why were the others all fired?”

Levi glowers at him but abruptly continues on his way. Bewildered, it takes Eren a minute to start moving again. “C’mon brat, we can talk about it when we get to Hanji.”

Eren notes absently that Levi has made his voice unnaturally high again while they’re around other people. He follows Levi dutifully around the castle until they’re outside, where Eren is so giddy about having fresh air and a breeze on his skin for the first time in what feels like forever he’s bouncing along behind Levi instead of walking. “What in the world is wrong with you, brat?” Levi asks, becoming irritated with the overly excited boy behind him.

Eren freezes and looks at Levi sheepishly. “I just haven’t been outside in a while.”

Levi quirks an eyebrow, “Didn’t you ever get free time down in the servant quarters?”

“Well sure, but it was always at night and we were usually so tired we spent it sleeping.”

Eren is surprised at the irritated look that crosses Levi’s face just before he turns so Eren can’t see anymore. “When we get to Hanji’s hut I want you to run around the woods a little to blow off some steam then. You’ll have to sit still for a while when we’re talking anyway and I’d rather you not distract me with all your squirming.”

Eren stiffens at that. Was Levi trying to do something nice for him? And why? It’s not a royal’s place to accommodate their servants so why would this man with his harsh eyes and unkind bearing let a servant like Eren have any freedoms?

Eren stared at Levi’s back as they followed the stone path to Hanji’s hut, thinking about the scars again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not proofread, I apologize for stupid errors.


	4. "Mood swings?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the feedback guys!  
> I really appreciate it :)

Eren winds up just wandering around in the woods for a while before lying in the grass outside of Hanji’s hut to absorb as much sun as he can before he has to go back inside. He had forgotten how much he liked the way leaves looked when the sun was trying to find cracks between them to shine through and the quiet buzz of wildlife in the distance. It was nice to sit and live for a few minutes.

He listens to the low rumble of Levi’s voice interspersed with an excited feminine voice through the door as he closes his eyes, intent on sneaking in a tiny nap before he gets moving again. He doesn’t get the nap, however, because suddenly the door swings open. “Hey brat, get in here,” Levi says.

Eren looks up at Levi and sighs. “Yes sir,” he says, standing.

Eren walks into the hut and is immediately stricken by the smells; something sick thickly veiled in the smells of various herbs. Eren looks around and decides he doesn’t want to see whatever is hidden beneath the sheet on the table on the far side of the room. His eyes finally fall to Hanji, who is grinning at him excitedly. Hanji is significantly taller than Levi with thick glasses. Her hair is pulled back in a high and messy ponytail, her dress rather plain for the king’s fiancée. Eren thinks she doesn’t look much like a royal at all. “Hi,” she says, holding out her hand. “I’m Hanji!” 

When Eren takes her hand he is pulled roughly into a tight and unexpected embrace. “I’m Eren,” he tries to reply, though his mouth is squashed against her shoulder.

“I have to go get my parasol before we go into town, watch the brat for me Hanji,” Levi says and leaves Eren behind in the hut.

Once he’s gone, Hanji looks at Eren a bit more seriously. “Levi said you wanted to know why the ones before you kept getting fired,” she says.

“Yes ma’am.”

She sits down at her desk and gestures vaguely. “Have a seat.” Eren finds a chair near the table with the sheet and carries it closer to the woman. “The main reason is usually just incompetence or not being thick-skinned enough to hold onto a secret. But the second, more important reason is that Levi sometimes has these mood swings other people have a hard time handling.”

“Mood swings?”

Hanji nods. “Some days he starts out okay but the tiniest things set him off and he’ll just get really violent, or start crying uncontrollably, or he’ll stop talking and just focus on one task for hours at a time and won’t respond to anyone, or sometimes he gets these uncontrollable urges for things; he ate out half the kitchen one time and didn’t stop until he vomited it all back up, another time he tried to come onto his servant at the time so they’d sleep with him…” Hanji trailed off and looked out the window. “They’re more under control than they used to be since I’ve been treating him but sometimes they can get pretty awful.”

“So that’s why the king lets you do things like this?” Eren asks, gesturing to the room.

Hanji nods. “It’s the entire reason we’re betrothed, so I can be the royal physician without raising suspicion. Women aren’t supposed to work, you understand, but I’m the best in the kingdom.”

“And it was one of Levi’s “mood swings” that made the last girl run away crying?”

“Precisely.”

“Did he really try to push her down the stairs?”

Hanji was silent. “He did – which is why I wanted to talk to you alone. Most of the servants weren’t fired, they quit.” Hanji looks at Eren and he’s taken back to the look on Petra’s face earlier. “I know you don’t know him well enough to have noticed but he already seems to have taken a liking to you and I have a feeling if you quit too he’d be in trouble. So I wanted to warn you before he had a swing and ask you to please try your best to deal with him.”

Eren looks down at his shoes. “Why me though? I haven’t even spent an entire day with him yet.”

Hanji shrugs. “Who knows? Although I suspect you resemble someone he used to know.”

Eren looks up at her, confused, but he can’t say anything before he hears Levi walking back. 

* * *

Eren is ordered to help Petra with the laundry while Levi and Hanji go into town.

She smiles when he finds her waiting by his room. “Hey Eren,” she greets him. “Follow me, he have to gather clothes and linens from everyone’s rooms first.”

Petra has Eren push around a heavy cart she throws everything into. “It’s nice having an extra set of hands to help me with this,” she says. “It’s not like we have to launder the entire castle or anything but it’s still a lot of work hauling that cart.”

“Do the other royals of the house have their own teams of servants just working for them?”

Petra thinks for a moment. “Technically, of the five of us you’re the only one who works solely and directly for Levi. Me, Auruo, Gunter, and Erd all still technically work for the whole castle it’s just that our assignments tend to be specifically for Levi.”

“Why is that?”

“Because on evenings when we have parties or when other royals are visiting from other kingdoms, the four of us usually have to help out serving the extra people but you will stick to just working for Levi. Things have to stay like that or else there would be no staff for anyone but our own people.”

They go to Levi’s room last. “We only have to do laundry for the six of us?”

Petra nods. “I told you before that Levi is a very particular person. The other launderers of the castle don’t know specifically how he likes his things cleaned.”

“Isn’t cleaning just cleaning?”

Petra smiles with a wink, “We’re the only people in the castle who get extra herbs to mix our soap with to make our clothes softer – courtesy of Lady Hanji.”

Inside the laundry room, Petra starts filling a tub and gets out everything to clean. “Now what I need you to do is dig out all the linens so we can wash those first.”

Eren starts digging and looks up at Petra. “Hanji told me why the others quit.”

She stops and looks back at Eren. “Does this mean you aren’t staying with us?”

“No, no,” he says, putting his hands up defensively. “I just wanted to say I think it’s pretty great you care about Levi so much.”

Petra’s cheeks darken a bit. “Yeah,” she says sheepishly, looking at the linens Eren had just handed her. “He’s just done so much for me since I came here.”

“What do you mean?”

“He says the king fancies himself a hero but Levi really is my hero…” she trails off and turns to the tub, mostly full now. “C’mon, help me get these into the tub.” 

* * *

Levi and Hanji come to get Eren before going to the main hall for lunch. His hands are pruney from working on the laundry for so long – Levi seemed satisfied Eren’s hands looked like that when he saw them. “I see Petra really made you work,” he says.

“Yeah,” Eren replies. “I really am worried my hands are just going to be destroyed after a week of this.”

Hanji grins. “I can bring you something tomorrow so your skin won’t split from all the work.”

“Can you really?” Eren asks.

She nods. “Sure, I’ll make it tonight.”

“Don’t baby him Hanji,” Levi says.

“I know you don’t want his blood all over all your stuff is all,” she replies.

Eren catches Levi’s eye twitching. “Bring it as soon as you can.”

Eren almost laughs but decides that would be a bad idea. Hanji looks over and gives him a smile and a wink. Eren is feeling good until Levi opens the door to the dining room. The king sits at the head of the table, which is who Eren focuses on to avoid meeting eyes with any of the others sitting around the table. Hanji sits to Erwin’s right while Levi takes his left, Eren stands behind Levi and stares toward his feet.

Eren is almost painfully aware of how quiet it got when they walked in. He can feel eyes boring into him, even as the servant staff rushes around handing out food to everyone. It’s almost two minutes before he starts being able to make out the whispers.

_“See, I told you there was a new one.”_

_“What do you suppose she’ll do to this one?”_

_“Did you see him when they came in? I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s screwing him.”_

_"I heard she’s only the king’s pet because her father didn’t want her with a servant, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still slumming.”_

Rage began to coil in Eren’s stomach. He couldn’t understand why but listening to these people talk about this man he’d only known for a day made him livid.

_“I wonder if she treats him like a dog.”_

_“I could understand why she’d want to, she’s a bitch herself.”_

Eren can feel the corners of his mouth twitching by the time Levi grabs his wrist. He leans over and Levi whispers “Calm down Jaeger.”

“But I –”

“ _Calm_ down.”

Eren takes a deep breath and stands at full height, trying not to glare at too many of the other people at the table. At his expression most of them switched conversation or talked more quietly, still Eren heard, _“I wonder if he’s actually her bodyguard.”_

No one sees, but Levi is smiling privately into his cup as he sips his drink.

“Friends,” Erwin bellows, completely unaware of everything else going on, having just broken from conversation with his own servant. “I thank you for joining me this afternoon; I welcome you to dig in.”

Eren just wants to be lying in the grass outside of Hanji’s hut again.


	5. “No kidding?”

It isn’t long into lunch that people are actually talking to one another instead of just quietly gossiping. Some discuss guests to the upcoming gala while others discuss news of the increasing number of wild animals attacking people in the next kingdom over. Eren can’t say he particularly cares about either topic so he winds up spacing out a bit until Hanji levels him with a sharp look, telling him wordlessly to pay attention. He isn’t sure why until he sees the entire room’s attention is suddenly swung onto him, courtesy of the king. “So, your name is Eren I hear?” Erwin asks.

“Erwin,” Levi says warningly.

Erwin just looks at him with a gentle smile, and then looks up at Eren expectantly. “It is, your majesty.”

“As I recall you’re the boy who showed up here looking for work with a young lady not long ago,” he says. “I’d like to know why you chose to come here. A strong young man like yourself must’ve had other options.”

Eren looks away from Erwin, focusing on the back of Levi’s head. “Um, well, our parents died a few years ago - in a house fire. I was supposed to take over my father’s practice but the clinic was in our house so…” he trails off quietly. “My sister and I couldn’t find work anywhere else so we came here instead of starving or joining a monastery and a convent or travelling somewhere else we might not have found work in.”

“You never considered the militia?”

Eren shook his head. “My sister would never have let me unless she came too and I wasn’t going to let her do that.”

Eren is suddenly highly aware of how silent the room is again, he glances around to find all eyes on him, except for Levi that is, who continues to eat silently, though slower than before. Eren can’t bring himself to meet eyes with anyone. But then the questions begin, directed at him.

“A doctor’s son working as a servant? My father would’ve rolled over in his grave.”

“You have a sister? Why haven’t we seen her?”

“That’s because they’re not _actually_ siblings, I’ve seen her taking linens to and from rooms during the day.”

“How did you support yourselves until you came here?”

“Didn’t your father leave any money for you?”

The questions and comments keep piling on, sufficiently overwhelming the brunette. Eren feels like his face is so warm his eyes nearly start tearing up just before Levi stands and the room immediately silences. “Lunch was excellent,” he says to Erwin with a curt, bladed edge to his voice. “Come, Jaeger.”

Eren hastily follows him from the room. The door is barely closed before he hears conversation drum back up and he has a vague suspicion they’re talking about him and Levi again. Levi’s posture is sharp and his face reveals an agitation the likes Eren has never really seen before. He isn’t really paying attention to where they’re going until he is led outside, on the opposite side of the castle from where they went to see Hanji earlier.

Levi just keeps walking and Eren is unsure about whether he should bother asking where they’re going or not until he sees a high hedge of Rose bushes. Levi leads him to the hedge and they walk along it until they come to a walkway built into the bushes. Levi continues to lead Eren around the maze of buses until he’s unsure of if he could find his way back out on his own or not. They stop when Levi leads him into a wide area inside the rosebush maze where there is a fountain and a couple marble benches.

“This is where I come to get away from the noise,” Levi says quietly and nearly sounding strained. He sits on one of the benches. Eren is hesitant, but takes a seat beside the raven-haired man. “I can never think clearly after being around them for too long, it’s exhausting.”

“Is it because of what they say or..?”

Levi sighs. “They’re all so vapid and self-centered,” he says. “And I used to be _exactly_ like all of them. It’s a shame I grew out of that attitude because now I could legitimately not survive outside of a lifestyle like this.”

“What do you mean?”

Levi looks up at the sky. “Hanji told you about my issues. If I left I’d have to work and no amount of menial labor could pay for help with them. I would end up hurting someone if not myself. Not to mention I’m used to bathing on a daily basis and eating three full meals a day and I still wouldn’t be able to give up this female facade.”

“Why is that?”

Eren looks at Levi, who barely glances back at him. “That’s a story for a different day Jaeger. You haven’t earned it yet.”

Eren pouted but didn’t press, looking up at the sky as well.

He wondered what Mikasa was doing. 

* * *

“She picked Eren?!”

Sasha nods furiously at Hannah. Mina’s face is shocked from her place scrubbing the floor a few feet away from them. “Are you serious?” she asks.

“Absolutely,” Sasha says. “Mikasa’s had her grave face on all day because of it.”

It’s then that Mikasa turns a corner with Jean and Marco in tow, taking the linens to the laundry room. She gives Sasha a vague glare which causes Sasha to fall into a bowing position in the sloppy water on the floor. “I’m so sorry Mikasa, I was just telling them what happened!”

Mikasa doesn’t comment but walks a little quicker to the laundry room. Jean and Marco have to jog to keep up. “Mikasa, calm down, I’m sure he’s fine,” Marco says.

She shoots a heavy look back at him and Jean chimes in, “Yeah, he’s a tough guy. You grew up with him, you should know.”

“I do know,” she says. “It’s just the first time we’ve been apart this long since his parents died.”

“See, he’ll be fine,” Marco says.

“He still gets nightmares,” she says. “He watched his mother burn you know, one of our neighbors had to drag us away because he wouldn’t stop looking.”

Jean and Marco both bristle at that. “No kidding?” Jean asked.

Mikasa shakes her head. “I don’t know if he can handle waking up from one completely alone,” she says. “That’s the only reason why I’m worried.”

She leads them into the laundry room and throws the linens into the tub while Marco starts filling it with water and Marco gets the soap. “What happens when he has the nightmares?” Marco asks.

Mikasa shrugs. “Sometimes he wakes up screaming, sometimes crying, sometimes he just won’t let himself go back to sleep afterward – for days in fact.”

“That can’t be healthy,” Marco says.

“One time I let him keep himself awake for too long and when I woke up one morning he was gone. I found him at the site where the house burnt down trying to dig something up. He hallucinated that his dad had come to tell him he’d left something for him in the basement. We didn’t have a basement.”

None of them spoke for a while; Jean and Marco unsure of what was appropriate to say, Mikasa just okay to have the relative quiet and her thoughts.

“I wonder what she’s making him do up there,” Marco says.

Mikasa stays concentrated on the laundry. Jean picks up a set of linens with suspicious yellow stains on them. “Bet my life it’s better than cleaning some asshole’s filthy, piss-stained sheets.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I had Sasha, Hannah, and Mina scrubbing the floors I was kind of picturing the women from the end of Les Mis for some reason.  
> Can you imagine Sasha singing though? XD
> 
> Unedited, sorry.


	6. "Whoa kid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Petra and Hanji act kind of fangirl-y.

The rest of that week was easy. Eren was picking up on what to do quickly and could for the most part get around and work on his own (though Petra was still more than willing to help him out when he needed it). He was relaxing into working for Levi rather gracefully.

Until he has a nightmare.

He wakes up shaking and sweating and unsure of what exactly he dreamt about, just that he really, _really_ doesn’t want to experience it again. He looked around his tiny room, reassuring himself by the light of dawn breaking through his window that he is, in fact, safe. He sits up and changes clothes before going to the kitchen to start making Levi’s tea.

Petra notices something off immediately. “Are you alright Eren?”

This causes all three men in the room to turn and appraise him. “Whoa kid,” Erd says. “Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”

Eren rubs his eyes and fills the kettle. “Just didn’t sleep well is all,” he says quietly.

They all notice he isn’t his usually rambunctious self this morning (not that Auruo particularly cares because frankly he thinks it’s annoying Eren seems so excited to be awake before dawn) but they all leave him be, everyone has a bad morning every once in a while, right?

Levi doesn’t comment, but he gives Eren a little less work to do that day than usual.

Eren doesn’t sleep that night. 

* * *

Three days later, when Eren nearly drops the tea tray on Levi just as he’s waking up, Levi finally gets fed up with Eren’s mood. Eren doesn’t even notice the simmering anger in Levi’s expression until he notices Levi hasn’t reaching for his tea yet and looks up. He flinches once he’s finally taken in the expression completely. “What’s up with you brat?” he asks, his annoyance painfully clear on Eren’s ears. “You’ve been out of it for days now and its really starting to piss me off.”

“I just haven’t been sle-“

“Yeah yeah, haven’t been sleeping well. You’ve given me the same goddamn excuse since this started. Clearly you haven’t been sleeping by your eyes and the way you’ve been dragging yourself around; I want you to tell me why.”

Eren hesitates, so tired it’s hard to even get his thoughts in order but every time he closes his eyes he just – he keeps seeing terrible things. Levi sighs and takes the tray before Eren really does drop it, setting it on the table and gently tugging at Eren’s wrist to get him to sit on the bed. “C’mon Jaeger, it can’t be that bad.”

Eren looks down at his hands. “I really want to sleep, believe me,” he says. “I just _can’t_.”

Levi sighs again, they aren’t getting anywhere. “Why not?”

Eren _really_ doesn’t want to talk about it. He thinks the nightmares will come to get him if he talks about them but in his hazy, overtired state he’s a little bit more afraid of Levi shouting at him. “I’ve had these nightmares, since my parents died.”

“So it’s a nightmare that’s got you so worked up?” Levi had half a mind to be annoyed, but his own nightmares got so awful sometimes he was fairly low-functioning as well.

“Yeah, I know it’s stupid but every time I close my eyes I see her lying there and I can feel the fire and I just –“ His throat seizes up like it always does and he’s growing increasingly uncomfortable sitting near Levi.

He tries to cover his face but suddenly he feels something draped over his shoulders, some _one_ actually, and he tenses up. “Brat,” Levi mutters. “It’s alright, you know. Nightmares can’t touch you. You have to remember your mother the way she was when she was alive, that’s the only thing that’ll make the nightmares hurt less.”

Eren finds the wording strange but oddly comforting. When he closes his eyes to stop the tears from falling, it’s the first time in three days he hasn’t seen a burning corpse. Suddenly incredibly drowsy, he feels himself being pulled backward onto something very comfortable.

For the first time in three days, he gets some decent sleep. 

* * *

Levi had no intention of letting the brat sleep in his bed – or staying in the bed with him for that matter. But something about the way Eren latches onto his nightshirt when he goes to get up tugs at his heart in a way that forces him to sigh and get comfortable.

He had known from the start Eren had been having nightmares. On the first day, that faraway look in Eren’s eyes was familiar enough for Levi to recognize as one he himself had worn many days when he’d first come to Erwin’s castle. After that it was only made more obvious by the quiet whimpers he’d heard through the wall connecting to Eren’s room in the few moments he’d actually slept.

Levi had really only been confirming his suspicions by forcing Eren to tell him what was wrong.

Now, pinned to his bed by a slightly over-warm teenage boy, he almost regrets it. Almost. He will regret it less when real work is getting done again and Eren looks less like a kicked puppy deprived of sleep. Not to mention the body heat of another human being does feel kind of nice.

It is probably two entire hours later before Petra walks in wondering where they’d been for breakfast. Seeing the two of them lying in Levi’s bed, Levi himself having fallen back to sleep, she just smiles privately and leaves to go find Hanji. 

* * *

“They were in the same bed?!” Hanji exclaims, nearly knocking over the inkwell on her desk.

Petra nods, trying not to laugh as Hanji scrambles to clean up spilled ink. “Indeed,” she says. “And you were right, Eren is a cuddler.”

Hanji’s face heats up. “That’s so cute!” She stands up to move around this time instead of flailing in her seat. “How do you think Levi will take that when he wakes up?”

“Who knows?” Petra says. “Though I suspect he wouldn’t let Eren onto his bed at all if he cared _that_ much.”

“Good point,” Hanji sighs and sits back down. “Eren might be good for him.”

“Eren’s _already_ good for him. He barely got angry with you at all for taking his good writing quill a few days ago.”

“I thought he was just getting used to me taking his things.”

“If you recall, it was Eren who talked him down when he looked like he was starting to steam.”

“Oh yeah,” Hanji looks at the quill on her desk. “I wonder why…”

“Why Eren would talk him down or..?”

“Why Eren seems to special compared to us. Neither of us or Erwin or the guys have ever seemed to be able to calm him down when he gets angry about anything.”

Petra shrugs. “I’m just glad someone can,” she says, picking up the tray that had been holding the tea Petra used as an excuse to see Hanji.

Hanji looks back down at the notes she’d been taking. “You should wake them up before they miss lunch too, Levi won’t be very happy about missing two meals today.”

“Eren will be better off if I let him sleep though, Levi can wake up on his own now.”

Hanji shrugs. “Your funeral.”

Petra grins. “Not if Eren’s there to save me.” 

* * *

Levi wakes up sweaty and with his arm half-asleep but not entirely uncomfortable. He’s slightly annoyed this is the second time he’s woken up today but otherwise privately pleased to not be waking up alone. He’s never known what it’s like to wake up tangled together with another person to a point he would have to move to figure out which limbs are his but he finds he really likes it. A little bit too much. So much in fact he has to get out of bed to get the embarrassment to dissipate. Petra is walking in as he’s standing up. “Afternoon,” she says brightly. “How did you sleep?”

“Alright,” he says. Excellent.

“Would you like me to help you get dressed since Eren is still sleeping or would you like me to wake him up?”

“Let him sleep,” Levi says. “He deserves it after the shitty sleep he’s gotten the past couple days.”

“So it really was nightmares?” Petra asks, getting the corset from the closet.

Levi nods, sliding on the corset and turning for Petra to tie him in. “Unfortunately, I’m sure they’ll be back so eventually we’ll probably have to go through this again. I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with navigating both of our traumas.”

“That’s right,” she says, yanking on the cords. “He hasn’t been here for one of your attacks yet.”

Levi shakes his head, wondering in Eren would’ve been more hesitant to fall asleep around him if he knew first hand. “Hanji warned him what happens,” he says. “All we can do is hope.”

Petra frowns at that. “I think he can handle it.”

Levi snorts. “You sound so sure.”

Petra is quiet for a moment, sorting together what she wants to say. “I just think he’s been good for you is all,” she says. “That has to count for something.”

Levi looks at the boy sleeping on his bed across the room. He settled into the fetal position after losing Levi’s body heat. “I hope you know what you’re talking about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the person who mentioned this started out really good and then got dark, I'm very sorry. I'm just super shitty at fluffy stories and no matter how hard I try there will always be angst :/  
> I hope this chapter at least was better than the last one at least. *shrugging and sighing uncontrollably*
> 
> Unedited.


	7. "I'm bored."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You should know I braved through my mom's disapproving looks at not filling out job applications to bring you this update tonight :) Unfortunately just about every place that's hiring right now either I really hate or won't hire me because I have 0 experience. Blegh.
> 
> As a side note, the first part of this chapter was written with my very slim experience with ballroom dancing and one informative youtube video so if it's unrealistic I apologize in advance :)

“I’m just a servant, why do I have to learn how to dance?”

“Because,” Hanji replies, dragging Eren around her small laboratory, “I’m bored.”

“You’re bored?”

She giggled noisily. “No, not really. I just think it would be hilariously romantic for you to sweep Levi off his feet after he has to dance with so many half-wits at the party.”

Eren sputters. “Romantic?” His face goes bright red. “I can’t- I’m not-“

Hanji’s giggles turn into a full laugh. “It’s okay, Petra and I have decided to give you our blessing if you do indeed have a crush on our resident man-lady,” she says. “On a more serious note, you aren’t even the first male human to form a crush on Levi while knowing he’s a man. Before he even started dressing as a woman, he would have both ladies and gentlemen trying to get into his then fifteen year old pants.”

“Oh,” Eren replies feeling oddly disappointed – he didn’t even care when he stepped on Hanji’s foot again.

Hanji smiles. “If it makes you feel any better he barely entertained the thought of dealing with most of them.”

It only makes Eren feel a little better.

After he had finally woken up for good the day before, Petra told Eren that Erwin was hosting a party for Hanji’s birthday. A party that happens to be in exactly three days. Not that this proves to be an extra inconvenience for Eren given that he just has to follow Levi’s orders and he won’t even have to serve any guests at the party. He just has to remember not to get so nervous he trips over himself.

Eren tries to actually lead Hanji and really only succeeds in knocking their knees together. “I’m sorry,” he says, his cheeks flushing again.

“Hands off the brat, glasses.” Eren turns to see Levi standing in the door, shaking his head disapprovingly. “I leave you alone for a half an hour and this is what I come back to.”

He walks in and nudges Hanji out of the way before getting himself into position with Eren. “I assume you’ve been trying to teach him the waltz?”

Hanji nods. “He just doesn’t seem to get it.”

“This is part because _your_ form is bad,” he says, eyeing her teasingly. “You forgot women step back on the first step Hanji.”

Hanji pouts. “It’s really hard to teach someone how to lead when they’ve only be taught to follow,” she mumbles but takes a seat at her desk to watch.

Levi shakes his head and looks up at Eren. “Remember to hold this frame,” he says. “Your hand does not leave my waist and this arm has to stay up the whole time, yes?” Eren nods hastily and glances down at his feet only to have Levi swat at his neck. “Your eyes do not leave mine either.”

“Yes sir,” Eren says, suddenly feeling intimidating staring at Levi’s face.

“Alright, basic box step,” he says. “Step forward with your left foot, move your right foot right, bring your feet together, then its right foot back, left foot left, and feet together. Got it?”

“I think?” Eren replies.

“If you step on my feet I’ll throw you in the river.”

“The river is at least a mile away from here.”

“I will tie you up in a carriage, ride over to the river, and throw you into it.”

Eren swallows audibly and takes note of the slightly mischievous look in Levi eyes. “Ready? One, two, three, one, two, three.” Eren stumbles a bit but gets the steps right and Levi seems pleased. “Good, let’s keep that up then.”

Hanji watches quietly while Levi shows Eren how to turn without tripping and how to move outside of the tiny circle they’d thus far created. She thinks about the scars on Levi’s back, hidden by his numerous corsets and gowns, and how they look almost deliberately like wings torn into his skin. She wonders if he would fly if he had a chance for those wings to be real.

“Got it, brat?” Levi asks.

Eren nods enthusiastically. “I think so.”

“Good, now I’ll show you how to do the fun things.”

Hanji snorts at the sudden look of discouragement on Eren’s face. “There’s more?”

Levi tuts quietly. “Of course there’s more. There’s more advanced turns, dips, lifts, all sorts of things and I won’t be teaching you all of them because that would be time consuming and I’m just waiting for lunch. However, you should at least know a tiny bit more than the basics.”

Hanji chimes in, “You should show him the dance Erwin will have reserved for me. You know the one with the switching hands and that one fun lift.”

Levi grins and Eren wants to cry. “Excellent idea,” Levi says. “Alright, this dance is much faster but also significantly more fun. I won’t immediately kill you for stepping on my feet to this one.”

Eren gives Hanji a pleading look as she stands and makes her way out of the room, not drawing Levi’s attention at all. When she opens the door she startles a sparrow that had be perched on the roof above her. She walks back up to the castle and is fairly pleased to see so many of the servants buzzing around in preparation for the party she wasn’t excited for until dancing with Eren. She generally doesn’t get excited for her birthday, her birthdays in the past nothing extraordinary to remember or all that fun at all if she recalls. Though somehow this one seems different, she wonders if it might be Levi’s good mood today rubbing off on her.

“Lady Hanji!”

She turns to see Petra running up behind her. “Afternoon Petra darling,” she says.

“His majesty was looking for you,” she says. “He said to meet him in the library.”

“Good, I was just looking for him too,” she says. “By the way, when you see Eren later, make sure you ask him to practice dancing with you.”

Petra expression twists into confusion. “Why would he-“

But Hanji is already making her way toward the library. “I promise it’ll be worth it!” she calls behind her.

Erwin is indeed waiting in the library, seated on a plush chair with a book on his lap. “Ah, Zoe, there you are,” he says.

She smiles, she doesn’t know why she only likes Erwin to call her by her first name, but he seems to be the only one who sounds right saying it. “Yes sir,” she says, taking a seat in another of the plush chairs. “What did you need me for?”

“I was wondering if you had any particular requests for your birthday,” he says. “It occurred to me this morning I haven’t even asked what you want as a gift.”

She thought back to the smile on Levi’s face earlier. “I don’t really want anything,” she says.

“Anything in particular you want me to tell the kitchen staff to serve?”

Her eyes light up. “I haven’t had duck since Levi’s birthday last year,” she says. “If we could have that?”

“Done,” he says and makes a note on a piece of paper he had hidden in the back of the book that already seemed to have notes on it. “Are you sure you don’t want a gift?”

“Positive,” she says. “And on another note, just how against formality is it for royalty to dance with a servant at a party?”

“Very,” Erwin says. “Why?”

She shrugs. “I was just teaching Eren to dance while Levi was taking a nap today and he’s fairly good at it and I was wondering how bad it would be for the two of them to dance together maybe, at my party.”

Erwin leans back in his chair. Hanji notices, not for the first time, the fine lines setting into his once smooth face. She wonders absently if she’s beginning to show signs of age as well. “The only way we could make that work is if he were Levi’s tutor; which he can’t be given that Levi is too old for school and Eren not old enough to be a teacher.”

“Oh,” Hanji says, disappointed.

“If there were less people here who knew otherwise we could have dressed him up in finer clothes and paraded him as one of us as well.”

“Damn,” she says. “It sucks there aren’t more people around here who could care less.”

“Agreed,” Erwin says.

They sit in silence for a moment and Hanji stares up and out the glass dome ceiling of the library at a couple of birds making their landing. “I wish we could all just be birds,” she says. “Then class wouldn’t even matter.”

Erwin sighs, closing his book but keep the paper he’d kept in it. “Agreed,” he says again, standing. He holds out the book he’d been reading to Hanji. “I think you’ll like this one,” he says. “It’s about birds.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dance Hanji mentioned Erwin saving for her was the one from the Goblet of Fire and I don't know if it has a specific name so I was just vague about it (sorry, don't feel like looking it up :P)
> 
> Also, how does this beta thing work? I'd like to take a commenters advice and get one but I don't know where to look for one or how it works after I get one so... help? Please and thank you :D


	8. "But you know, I'm here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long week.  
> And this chapter was rough to write.

The day before Hanji’s party, Eren wakes up happy.

He gets out of bed and gets dressed quickly and has a spring in his step as he goes to the kitchen to make Levi’s tea. He waits for the water to boil while the guys are cooking and Petra walks in looking more tired than usual. She smiles, though, when she sees Eren bouncing around to some music in his head. “You seem cheerful this morning,” she says.

He rests his hand on her waist and takes her hand, dancing her around the kitchen. “Because I am cheerful this morning,” he replies.

Petra giggles as he twirls her around the room. “Why’s that?” Erd asks.

“Because,” Eren begins, letting Petra go to take the kettle off the stove. “Levi says I can go with him into town today and he’s going to let me visit a friend of mine I haven’t seen in a while.”

“That’s what you’re so excited about?” Auruo asks. “Jeez kid, can’t you tone it down every once in a while?”

Eren just grins and set up his tray. “Nope,” he replies and is out the door a moment later.

He’s still bouncing until he gets to Levi’s room. 

The first thing he really processes is that Levi isn’t in his bed as usual. The second is the sound of scrubbing. He sets down the tray and finds Levi on the floor on the far side of the room. The raven is on hands and knees scrubbing the floor, his hands raw and a few of his knuckles bleeding where the skin is cracked from overuse. His pants are soaked from about mid-thigh down, his eyes bloodshot and ringed with dark, heavy circles. His hair is mussed and a little wet in some places.

Eren, momentarily stunned, hastily makes his way across the room. He drops to his knees and rests a hand on the shorter man’s shoulder. “Levi!” he urges, trying to pry the brush from cold, stiff fingers. “What are you doing?”

Levi just grunts, still staring at the floor, clutching the brush tightly. Eren is taken back to his first day with Levi, when Hanji had told him why the others had quit. He knows she told him about it but for the life of him he can’t remember if she told him what to do. So he continues to try and pry the brush from Levi’s hand until he receives a hard elbow to the stomach.

He’s afraid.

Eren stands and rushes back out of the room and to the kitchen. The mood had been light but upon Eren’s sudden entrance and the look on his face, the tears in his eyes, the room is suddenly heavy. “I don’t know what to do!”

Gunter sighs. “Someone go get Hanji,” he says. “Eren, go back and make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”

Petra has to nudge Eren back out of the room but he goes, happy thoughts from this morning completely gone. A little twitchy, Eren settles on hovering near Levi, unsure of how or if he even should try and get the older man to move. Hanji is still in her nightgown when she enters, pulling her hair back as she goes. “I just found him like this,” Eren says.

“Has he spoken at all?” Hanji asks.

“He elbowed me when I tried to take the brush away but he wouldn’t look at me and he hasn’t said actual words, just noises.”

Hanji bites the inside of her cheek. “Eren, I know you’re stronger than me. Do you think you’re significantly stronger than him?”

“Maybe? Why?”

“Because I’m going to need you to hold him down for me and then you need to carry him to bed.”

“Won’t I hurt him like that?”

“He’ll hurt himself even more if we wait for him to tire himself out. By the look of it he’s not going to keep up this particular activity for much longer.”

She kneels down beside the raven-haired man. “Levi, sweetie,” she says softly. “Eren and I need you to let go of that brush now.”

He doesn’t so much as twitch at the sound of her voice. “Hanji I don’t kno-“

She shoots Eren a harsh look and returns to the bag she brought with her. “Hold onto his arms and push him onto his stomach,” she says, coating a cloth in some liquid from a bottle.

Eren swallows and grabs Levi at each elbow. At his touch Levi starts thrashing immediately. “Get the hell off me!” he shrieks. “You can’t do this to me! Haven’t you already punished me enough!?”

Eren felt a pit of desperation open in his stomach. “C’mon Levi, you’re not well. We have to-“

Levi jerked his arm free and landed a solid hit to Eren’s cheek, turning as he did so as to try and scratch at Eren’s face. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” he shouts as Eren finds his wrists. “No! I can’t go back in there again! Not after the last time!”

“Eren sit on his waist so he stops squirming so much!” Hanji urges over the shouting man.

Eren manages to force Levi onto his back and with some effort gets his leg over so he’s straddling Levi’s hips. “NO!” Levi’s voice sounds hoarse, heavy tears are pouring from his eyes and he’s straining his muscles trying to get away from Eren. “Let me go! I don’t want the whip again! NO! It hurts! It hurts! Please!”

Eren rubs his eyes on his shoulders to keep the tears from falling down his cheeks. “Hanji, I don’t know how much longer I can hold him,” he says.

Hanji comes over and cushions Levi’s head with one hand while holding the cloth over his nose and mouth with the other. Levi’s sobs turn into whimpers which eventually turn into silence, his grip finally loosening from the brush. Eren lets go of his wrists and gets off of the smaller man’s hips. “Can you lift him and carry him over to the bed for me?” Hanji asks. “I’ll get both of you a change of clothes.”

It’s only now Eren notices Levi had knocked over the bucketful of water he’d been using to scrub the floor and it had soaked both of them. “Thank you Hanji,” Eren says quietly and tries to lift Levi as carefully as he can.

When he get to Levi’s bed he decides it would be bad to get the linens wet so he sits Levi on the stool at his vanity to strip him out of his wet clothes. When he pulls off Levi’s shirt he sees the scars in their full glory for the first time. He’d seen glimpses before of course, but out of respect for Levi he’d tried not to stare or look too closely. They definitely look like whip marks, Eren thinks, and put there by someone who knows intimately just how to swing a whip to make the mark they want. The strokes were deliberately positioned to look like wings.

Eren is surprised to feel anger smoldering within him.

He starts to strip off Levi’s pants to distract himself and carries the older man back over to the bed just as Hanji reenters with Eren’s clothes. “Is he going to be okay?” Eren asks.

“He’ll be achy when he wakes up and those hands will be sore but otherwise he should be fine,” she says as she hands Eren both of their clothes.

She returns to her bag as Eren gets changed. When she takes something else out, Eren quirks an eyebrow, “What else do you need from that bag?” he asks.

“When he first came here I had him on a daily medication to keep his moods even but eventually he was managing without it so he stopped taking it. Whenever he has an attack he likes to go back on the medication for a few days just in case,” she says absently, filling a syringe. “He’s usually alright after he gets some sleep but he doesn’t like to take chances.”

After Eren gets Levi into clean clothes, Hanji gives Levi the shot and repacks her bag. “He won’t be awake for a few hours if you want to go get breakfast,” Hanji says.

Eren shakes his head and brings the stool from the vanity to sit by Levi’s bed. “What if he wakes up and freaks out again?”

Hanji smiles softly. “I’ll get someone to bring something in for you then.”

She turns on her heel and picks up the tea tray on her way out the door. Eren sits down, his hands still shaking a bit from shock. When Petra enters about ten minutes later she seems relieved to see Levi sleeping soundly. “At least the weather today is as good as our moods,” she says, handing Eren a tray with food on it.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

Petra goes to draw the curtains and Eren sees outside for the first time all morning. The sky is dark grey and it’s raining heavily. “It would be a little twisted if a bright and sunny day began like that.”

She smiles and walks over to Eren, giving his shoulder a squeeze that feels like a thank you. “I’ll come back for the tray this afternoon unless you bring it out yourself,” she says.

Petra leaves and Eren eats quietly while he stares out the window.

He isn’t sure how long he’s there before Levi begins to stir, but he’s sure it’s at least two hours. Levi is facing Eren when his eyes open. Eren is thankful to see them clear and conscious unlike this morning. “Would you like me to go get you some tea?” he asks.

Levi shakes his head and pulls his blanket up to his ears. “Your face,” he mumbles softly.

Eren’s hand immediately goes up to his bruised cheekbone. “Oh that? I’m alright, it was just-“

“Despicable,” Levi mutters.

Eren stands. “I’ll be right-“ Levi immediately clamps onto the brunette’s wrist. “-back.” He looks down at Levi with an expression he hopes is comforting. “I just have to drop off this tray in the kitchen.”

Levi gives him an irritated face. “Get me a glass of water then.”

On his way back, as a second thought Eren stops in his room for the salve Hanji brought him so his knuckles wouldn’t crack from doing laundry.

Levi looks incredibly anxious, staring out the window, until he notices Eren has returned. He sits up with difficulty and takes the water, downing it all in one go before laying back down. When Eren sits down on the side of the bed, Levi eyes the jar of salve questioningly. “Hanji said your hands were going to be sore so I was going to massage them for you,” Eren says, trying not to make eye contact because of the heat he feels in his cheeks.

Levi could’ve cried. “Eren,” he says softly as the brunette takes one of his hands.

“If you want to talk,” Eren says. “I’ll listen. Whatever you were seeing when Hanji and I were trying to calm you down sounded really rough and I want to pay you back for dealing with my nightmares before.”

Levi looks down at his lap. “You make it really hard to say no,” he says quietly. “But I-“

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Eren says. “But you know, I’m here.”

Levi grinds the palm of his free hand into each of his eyes to make sure he doesn’t cry. “I’m sorry,” he chokes out.

“It’s-“

Levi takes his hand back and makes sure Eren is looking into his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he says again.

Eren doesn’t say anything as Levi leans forward so his head is on Eren’s shoulder and he doesn’t hold him when Levi starts to cry. He just sits and lets the older man spill out his feelings in the only way he can without interruptions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I don't care when syringes were invented, they're here cause I said so goddamnit :)


	9. "I'm glad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long guys!
> 
> Um, belated Happy Holidays, I guess :D

Levi doesn’t want to leave his room until Eren coaxes him out for dinner, “It’s not good for you to just stay cooped up in your room all day.”  
  
“It’s not good for other people if I snap again,” Levi replies, crossing his arms.  
  
“It’ll just be me, you, and Hanji,” Eren replies. “The others are all on Erwin duty tonight because of the party tomorrow.”  
  
Levi, almost out of excuses, looks over at Eren. “It is entirely too late in the day to just now be getting dressed.”  
  
“You only have to stay dressed for like an hour and a half, two tops and then you can come get back in bed.”  
  
Levi frowns and Eren almost smiles at how similar it is to a pout. “Fine,” Levi says. “But I make no promises not to throttle Hanji.”  
  
“For what?” Eren asks as he moves to pick a dress from Levi’s closet.  
  
“I still need a corset, brat. My gowns are all tight fits without one,” Levi says, stretching a bit. Eren picks up a corset and goes over to Levi. “To answer your question, these are why.”  
  
When Levi pulls his shirt off Eren sees purpling marks on Levi’s forearms and on his hips, peeking out from his pants. “Oh my God, I am so sorry.”  
  
“It’s that dumb doctor’s fault for telling you to just slam me on the floor.”  
  
As Eren works the corset onto Levi, he tugs the strings more gently than usual and asks, “Do you really remember everything?”  
  
Levi is silent for a moment, probably trying to decide what’s too much to say. “Most of it,” he replies finally. “But only in the way you would remember a nightmare. Like I know exactly what was happening but I also know I had no control over any of it.”  
  
“Why do those attacks even happen?”  
  
Levi shrugs with a scoff. “Irony? They only started after I left home,” he says, “Like I left one cage for a completely separate, much tinier one.”  
  
Like a bird, Eren thinks, given the wings scarred onto his back.  
  
“I guess I did kind of deserve it though,” Levi says absently. “I was huge shit as a kid.”  
  
Eren returns to the closet to pick a dress out. "What do you mean?" He asks.  
  
Levi stares out the window as Eren carries a black velvet dress over to him. "The thing about being royalty, especially when you're young, is that you honestly believe you're indestructible. You believe that no matter what you'll _always_ have your family and your comforts and I was no exception. My friends and I would sneak into town and gamble all the time and we would pull pranks on the servants and guards in the castle and not once did I ever take it seriously that I was the son of a king. I had an older brother you know, I wasn't getting the throne anyway so why would it have mattered?"  
  
"Does your family know you're here?"  
  
Levi sighs. "Only my mother," he says. "She writes me when she gets the chance. You've seen the stack of letters on my desk, they're all from her."  
  
"Why is she the only one?"  
  
Levi is silent for a while. "Because the only other person from back then who really cared about me is dead."  
  
Eren pauses in his buttoning. "I'm sorry," he says.  
  
Levi shrugs. "It was a long time ago."

When Levi is dressed, he puts on his wig and they walk to the kitchen together. “Is there anything in particular you want to eat?” Eren asks as Levi sits down.

Levi shrugs. “Nothing heavy or extravagant.”

“Soup it is,” Eren replies and puts on water to boil before beginning to chop vegetables.

When Hanji finally enters, she seems pleasantly surprised to see Levi waiting at the table. “Evening my lovelies,” she beams, her cheerful demeanor having finally returned after their rough morning. Levi waves a half-hearted reply. “I see someone finally rolled out of bed,” she says, elbowing his ribs gently.

“Dragged is more like it,” he replies. “I would’ve been fine if you hadn’t asked a certain brat to slam me onto stone by my hips.”

“I’m sorry,” she says, not seeming sorry at all. “You know how worried I was.”

“Sorry isn’t going to make my bruises go away.”

Eren chuckles. “They don’t look that bad.”

“Well they hurt like a bitch,” Levi growls. “Every one of my corsets are going to sit right on top of them too, I have no idea how I’m going to be able to dance tomorrow.”

Hanji shrugs. “You could always play faint and have Eren escort you to your room early.”

“The party is starting pretty early, remember? I can’t miss dinner or else people might start rumors.”

“More than they’ve already started about you?”

Levi makes a face. “True.”

"What kinds of things do they say about you?” Eren asks. “The only rumors I’ve heard are from the servants downstairs.”

Hanji shrugs. “I imagine they’re probably pretty similar. Some people think Levi’s only here to be Erwin’s mistress, others think her family sold her to Erwin because she was prostituting and they didn’t want any shame put on the family name, and there are others who think she’s slept with the entire male servant staff.”

“They mostly just think I’m a whore, to sum up,” Levi says, nodding.

“Why would they think that?”

“Why else would a “woman” of money be living unmarried away from her family?”

Eren stirs the soup, thinking. “To be fair,” Hanji says. “It’s not as though you try and be friendly with any of them, they all just assume your silence is their answer.”

“Well they have no right to be making assumptions,” Levi replies, trying to get a little more comfortable. “They have no idea why I had to leave my family behind.”

“If you weren’t such a little clam they’d already know why so there wouldn’t be any rumors.”

Levi gives her a sharp look that makes Eren startle a bit. “None of them even know I’m a man Hanji, how could I even begin to explain this situation?”

Hanji puts her hands up defensively, but not at all intimidated by the frustration being directed at her. “I’m just saying.”

Eren gave each of them a bowl of soup before bringing over some bread and his own bowl. “Finally,” Hanji says with a grin. “I’m starved.”

Levi digs in immediately, surprised at how hungry he is. “This isn’t half bad, brat,” he says.

“Thanks,” Eren replies, sipping at his own soup.

There was a knock on the door. Eren quirks an eyebrow and looks at the duo across the table from him. “Yes?” he calls.

The door opens to reveal Erwin, who seems to be a much bigger man in the tiny kitchen. He smiles gently. “Evening,” he says and looks at Levi. “Petra told me about this morning so I went to your room to check on you but you weren’t in there.”

Levi shrugs. “The brat dragged me out of bed for dinner.”

Erwin smiles at Eren. “Thank you,” he says. “Levi doesn’t usually leave his room for days after the attacks.”

Eren snaps his eyes over to Levi, who is calmly eating and ignoring the brunette’s gaze. “Days?” he asks.

Hanji nods. “Doesn’t like moving around when he’s on the medication.”

“But you were just talking about going to the party tomorrow.”

Levi looks at him then. “Guess I’m feeling optimistic about tomorrow morning.”

Eren looks up at Erwin, who is watching them quietly. “Well, since you’re alright, I suppose I’ll be turning in for the night. Goodnight.”

“Night Erwin,” Hanji says.

He leaves as Hanji slurps down the rest of her soup. “I guess it’s about time for me to go to bed too,” she says and takes her bowl over to the sink. “Goodnight, you two.”

Once she’s gone, the kitchen is quiet again. Eren and Levi finish eating in a comfortable silence before Eren washes out the dishes. They return to Levi’s room in the same silence they’d eaten in. As soon as Levi has his wig off, Eren starts unbuttoning the dress. “Thank you for massaging my hands earlier, by the way,” Levi says. “They barely feel sore right now.”

“I’m glad,” Eren replies.

It’s quiet for a moment before Levi says, “The rumors aren’t entirely wrong, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“About me being an embarrassment to me family. They didn’t _sell me_ for sleeping with the servant staff. My father disowned me because of my relationship with our stable boy.”

“You-“

“I can’t tell you everything yet,” he says. “But I can tell you that if he were still alive, it would be my mother _and_ the stable boy writing to me all the time.” Eren makes a face. He wonders how anyone could be so cruel to their own child. And over someone that their child might have loved.  “I’m not telling you for pity,” Levi says. “I just wanted you to know that if I have a nightmare tonight it’ll probably be about him.”

“Why would I need to know that?”

Levi is quiet, fidgety. It takes him a long moment to answer. “I was wondering if you might sleep in here tonight,” Levi says, more meekly than Eren thought he’d be capable. “I hate sleeping alone, especially after the attacks.”

“Okay,” Eren replies.

“Just go change into clean pajamas first,” Levi says. He stretches once the corset is off.

He’s pulling on a nightshirt as Eren goes back to his room to change clothes. When he comes back Levi is already in bed, half-asleep but having left enough space for Eren to fit in beside him. “Good night Levi,” Eren whispers.

“Good night brat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you are interested (and haven't already read it) I recently started a new modern au called Tragic Kingdom. It features a formerly drug addicted Levi, a male drag queen Hanji, and an Eren who's a straight A student. I just thought I'd throw the shameless self-promotion in cause it hasn't gotten very much love yet.


	10. "What's going on?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels like forever since I've updated this.  
> Sorry '^.^

“WAKE UP!”

Jean shrieks and rolls off his bed, startled. “Jesus Christ,” he moans, rubbing the back of his head while Connie roils with laughter in the doorway.

“What’s going on?” Marco asks as he passes by.

Jean throws his pillow back up on his bed as he stands. “This asshat decided to pick the worst way to wake me up.”

Marco rolls his eyes and starts nudging Connie down the hall. “Gunter was looking for you,” Marco told him. “You have to help him, Sasha, and Reiner set out the silver.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Connie says through the remaining giggles. “See you guys later.”

As Connie walks away, Marco slips into Jean’s room. Jean has his back to the freckled brunette, changing his shirt. “Am I late?” Jean asks. “Or is everyone else just up really early?”

“Nope,” Marco says, walking up behind his secret boyfriend. “Petra just sent Mikasa to wake up Annie and Christa, they’re the last two.”

Marco starts laying kisses on the slightly shorter boy’s shoulders. “Marco,” Jean whines. “You already know how much work we have to do today, we can’t waste time this morning.”

“We have ten minutes to burn.”

Jean rolls his eyes. “How romantic.”

He turns around in the other boy’s arms and wraps his own around Marco’s neck. Their lips meet and Marco’s hands slide into the back of Jean’s pants, who groans and pulls away. “I was serious, we don’t have time for that today.”

Marco laughs. “I know, you’re just really fun to tease.”

Jean rolls his eyes and lets go of Marco. “Alright, get out so I can get dressed.”

Marco smiles at him. “You’ll be seeing me again when we’re off duty after the party.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Jean replied, pulling his shirt on.

* * *

“No dad, let me sleep,” Annie mumbles, pulling her blanket over her head.

Mikasa sighs heavily and pulls the blonde’s blanket clean off. Her body having been suddenly chilled without her blanket, Annie’s body pulls into the fetal position and she groans. “Get up,” Mikasa says. “Petra needs us to serve breakfast in a half hour.”

Annie groans again but sits up, immediately reaching up to pull back her hair. “You don’t have to be so pushy about it,” Annie says.

“C’mon,” Mikasa says. “Christa’s waiting for us.”

Annie rolls her eyes and drapes herself over the raven girl. “Don’t be so sour Mika,” she purrs.

Mikasa sighs but kisses the blonde anyway. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen alright?” she says softly and leaves the room.

Annie strips out of her nightgown and shrugs on her day clothes quickly before leaving her room. On her way upstairs she almost runs into half a dozen people who are all rushing around in a panic. Annie has been working in this kingdom since she was a little kid and the morning of a party is always like this, everyone panics the entire morning but the day always, always goes smoothly so she is never among them.

Not that she would be anyway, it’s not really in her nature to panic about anything.

In the kitchen, the chefs are panicking, trying to get breakfast done for the new guests, who have already begun to arrive. “Annie! You’re here, good! Go help the others serve wine!”

She isn’t sure who just told her that, but she picks up the wine bottle on the table and makes for the dining room. The room is loud and full of people making loud conversation. She sighs silently and puts on a trained smile, beginning her work for the day.

* * *

Mikasa doesn’t see Eren or Rivaille until lunch is being served. She is curious about them. She hasn’t had a chance to speak to her brother since he became that mysterious woman’s servant, but she thinks he looks happy. He looks like he doesn’t want to leave Rivaille’s side.

Mikasa knows should be happy her brother is getting on okay, but she misses him so much she wishes he hated her sometimes.

But then she starts to analyze how the tiny woman looks at Eren and she starts to feel bad for thinking anything negative about them at all. Rivaille looks at Eren like how Mikasa used to see her parents looking at each other. It’s an unconditional gaze, one that refuses to drift or waver. She instantly respects it.

It reminds her of how Annie looks at her sometimes. The times are not for people like them but she wishes she and Annie could run away together. She wishes often that she’d been born a man so she could take care of the people she loves on her own.

She sighs and collects dishes, taking them back to the kitchen.

That evening, she is one of many servants lining the walls of the ballroom waiting for something to do. She is watching Eren again, she stands by Rivaille, who is seated with Lady Hanji, conversing quietly. Both of them readily include Eren into their conversation and Mikasa finds herself confused but unsurprised. King Erwin often spoke friendly to the servant staff so it made sense Lady Hanji did as well, however Rivaille didn’t strike her as the type to want to deal with anyone lower than her.

“What’s up?” Annie asks.

“Eren,” Mikasa answers quietly.

Annie hums. “He and Rivaille are very friendly with each other.”

“Really?”

Annie nods. “I’ve been here a long time and she’s never been as nice to anyone as she is to him.”

It’s not long before dinner is served and part of the servant staff is let go for the night. During dinner, Mikasa notices Jean and Marco are conspicuously missing. “Petra,” she says. “Do you know where Jean and Marco went? They have to help collect dishes when dinner is done.”

She sighs heavily. “Those two are worse than Berthoult and Reiner, I’ll go-“

“No, you can stay here, I’ll go find them.”

Petra smiles. “Thank you.”

Mikasa leaves the room for the dark hallway beyond. She starts walking when she hears giggling from behind her. Quirking an eyebrow she turns and walks quickly but quietly to the corner ahead of her. She turns it swiftly to see Marco shoved up against a wall with Jean licking his neck. “Gross,” she says.

The duo on the wall both startle and shove away from each other. Both of their shirts are unbuttoned and the ties on their pants are loosened. Mikasa smirks at their flushed expressions. “You horny little monsters,” she says and turns. “Hurry back, you’re needed after dinner.”

“Oh c’mon Mikasa, we all know you and Annie have gotten caught in the closet dozens of times before,” Jean mutters, buttoning his shirt.

“But we never got caught when we were supposed to be working,” she replies. “And fix your hair, you look like a streetwalker.”

He gives an exasperated sigh and Marco laughs as she goes back into the ballroom. Things have quieted significantly. Most people have gotten sleepy and calmed down from all the wine all day. By the wall Ymir and Christa are laughing with Reiner, Berthoult and Annie are talking quietly amongst themselves, and Connie and Sasha are trying to figure out who can stack the most bread rolls before the stacks fall over.

Her gaze goes back to Eren, who is helping Rivaille from her seat. Rivaille is saying her goodnights and Mikasa decides the hallway is her best bet at getting a chance to talk to Eren. She waits a moment after they leave to follow quietly.

They’re talking as they move through the halls to Rivaille’s quarters. “That man Mike seemed nice,” Eren says.

“He’s one of Erwin’s closest friends.”

Mikasa is stricken by how suddenly deep Rivaille’s voice has become. The two of them are already around the next corner so she can’t see them but she hears Eren reply, “He does seem like the type of person Erwin would be attracted to.”

“His wife Nanaba is expecting or else you would’ve gotten to meet her tonight as well.”

They make idle chatter like that all the way to Rivaille’s room, until the lady drops a question that makes Mikasa tense before turning the last corner. “Are you going to stay with me again tonight?”

She peeks around the corner to see the two of them are holding hands and Rivaille is holding was looks like a wig, her own hair suddenly shorter.

Mikasa’s eyes widen. “I don’t know, you seem to like you space,” Eren replies.

“Let’s see if this will convince you.”

The two of them stop walking and Mikasa puts a hand over her mouth to block the gasp as her face goes into a warm flush when the short raven’s lips meet her brother’s.

“I suppose one more night wouldn’t hurt,” Eren says in a breath.

Rivaille pulls him more quickly down the hall and into his room.

Mikasa puts her back to the wall. “Mikasa? Mikasa, where are you?”

It’s Annie who turns the corner. “Right here,” Mikasa replies, trying to process what she just saw.

Annie gives her a confused look. “What’s the matter?”

“I think our _Lady_ Rivaille is actually a man. And I’m fairly certain he’s sleeping with my brother.”


	11. "I'll take that as a yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's really nice hearing how many of you guys were concerned about Levi and Eren. Me and one of my friends were reading a few of them and laughing at the overreactions because I usually have those reactions but I don't usually get them from people. It's nice :D
> 
> This chapter takes place during the party, but from Levi and Eren's perspective this time.

Eren and Levi are both up entirely too early on the morning of the party, just lying together, neither of them really wanting to get up yet. “Eren,” Levi says eventually, breaking the standing silence.

“Yeah?”

“I know it’s kind of late for me to be asking this, but you are okay with sharing a bed with a gay man, right?”

“You’re right, that is late.”

“Just answer my question, you ass.”

“It’s fine.”

Levi rolls over and leans up on his elbows to look at Eren. “Are you still okay with it if I tell you I’m attracted to you?”

Eren stares back at him, slightly shocked but pleasantly surprised. “Yeah.”

Levi stares at Eren. “Just to clarify, am I to assume that means you are also attracted to me?”

He smirks when Eren starts blushing. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he says and rolls back over onto his back.

“My only remaining question is whether you’re actually attracted to me right now or me as Rivaille.”

“See,” Eren says. “That’s tricky.”

“How?”

“Because clearly you’re both. That’s like asking if I prefer you angry or sad.”

“Are you saying I’m angry and sad? Cause you wouldn’t be completely wrong on either count.”

“Wow. That was self-deprecating.”

Levi shrugs. “Age makes you cynical,” he says and pauses. “Wow. That makes me feel old.”

Eren laughs. “Erwin is old, you’re not.”

Levi looks over at him with a smirk. “You’re sweet but I’m not whole hell of a lot younger than Erwin.”

“I was trying to make you feel better you know.”

Levi sits up. “You know what might make me feel really better?”

“What?”

Levi leans down and places his lips softly over Eren’s. When he pulls back, the brunette is blushing like mad. “See, now I feel much better.”

“That’s going to take some getting used to,” Eren says.

Levi snorts and swings his legs over the side of the bed. “C’mon it’s probably almost lunch time, we have to get moving.”

“Aw, do we have to? Your bed is so much more comfortable than mine.”

Levi rolls his eyes at him. “Go get dressed and then come help me.”

That’s all the coaxing Eren needs before he’s up and on his way to his room. Levi walks over to his closet, where his dress for today is still on the dress form from when one of the servants hemmed it for him. It’s black velvet and snow white lace. It had taken him off guard, at first, how much it reminded him of his mother. She always adored gowns like this, stark contrasts in color had always caught her eye. Levi hadn’t bothered to ask who’d sent it when Erwin dropped it off in his room earlier in the week, he’d just assumed it was another admirer who was going to try and court him, but looking at it now all he can think of is her.

He’s glad that it’s sleeveless, for once, velvet is already hot let alone in a crowded room. He smooth’s out the skirt again, loving the feel of the fabric under his fingers until Eren comes back in. He strips off his shirt and waits for Eren to bring his corset over. “Hey Eren,” he says absently.

“Yeah,” the brunette replies, trying to be careful of Levi’s bruises as he pulls the punishing fabric over the raven’s head.

“How would you feel if I tried to talk Erwin into moving your sister up here?”

Eren pauses in his tying. “Seriously?”

“Erwin has been needed a pair of people to act as his personal manservants, like you. He asked recently if I would mind if he moved Erd and Gunter up after the party and I agreed so there are two free spaces to fill. I can put in a good word for your sister if you want.”

Suddenly Levi is in the taller’s arms. “Thank you Levi.”

Levi rolls his eye. “She isn’t up here yet brat,” he says. “Although the quickest way to get her here is definitely to make sure she knows about me.”

“Do you mean to tell her you’re a man?”

“Not outright,” Levi replies. “But drop her enough hints so Erwin wants her closer to us. If not she’s gonna have to go through the screening which she might not even get picked to go through because she’s so low ranking down there.”

“Why do servants even have rankings?”

“You were down there, you know the higher ranking servants got to work in nicer places in the castle and do less shitty jobs.”

Eren shrugs. “How are you going to ‘drop hints’ without other people knowing?”

“That’s what I still need to work out.”

Eren carefully pulls the dress off the dress form and carries it to Levi. “Ready?”

“As always.”

* * *

The party is boring. Levi focuses all his attention on Eren and Hanji so he doesn’t exhaust himself too fast. The only other people he speaks to are Erwin and eventually Mike when he comes to say his hellos. However, when he isn’t speaking he’s keeping his eyes on Mikasa, trying to figure out a way to get information to her without seeming too obvious.

It’s dinner time before he’s really noticed and he eats quickly. “Eren,” he says. “I don’t know if you noticed, but your sister has been watching you for much of the evening.”

“Yeah?”

“I think she’ll follow us if we leave now.”

Eren helps him up and Levi starts saying his goodbyes, making sure Mikasa is watching as he does so. Eren follows him and before Mikasa follows he tells the taller, “Just act normal, talk to me so she doesn’t know we know she’s following.”

They’re just going around the first corner when Levi see Mikasa leave from the corner of his eye. “That man Mike seemed nice,” Eren says.

“He’s one of Erwin’s closest friends,” Levi replies, making sure not to mask his voice.

They keep talking and Levi is half listening for the quiet footsteps behind him. They go around the last corner and Levi pulls off his wig, taking Eren’s hand. “Are you to stay with me again tonight?”

Levi is glad their backs are to Mikasa so she couldn’t see the sudden shock on Eren’s face. “I don’t know, you seem to like your space,” Eren says.

“Let’s see if this will convince you,” Levi says and he’d rather their second kiss not have an audience but he needs to make himself clear for her or else this plan won’t work.

“I suppose one more night wouldn’t hurt,” Eren says, breathless.

Levi pulls Eren into his room and he sits on his bed. “Perfect,” he says. “Thank you for not panicking just now, by the way.”

“I thought you just said you were telling her about you, I didn’t know you were going to mention us too.”

Levi pauses at Eren’s curt response. “Was that too much?”

“I would’ve liked a little warning at least.”

“I’m sorry.”

There’s a knock on the door so Levi hastily throws his wig back on to be safe while Eren answers the door. “The lady is preparing for bed,” he says formally.

It’s Annie on the other side, giving him a strange look but otherwise formal in her own right. “Someone asked to see Lady Rivaille,” she says. “He says his name is Kalen and she would know who he was talking about.”

Eren turns back to Levi, who has already heard what Annie said. “Kalen?” Levi asks and then hesitantly adds, “Send him in.”

Eren opens the door more widely and Eren finally see the man who was standing behind Annie. He steps out of the way as Kalen walks in and Annie moves back toward the party.

The man is tall, with black hair and grey eyes. He’s skinny with narrow features and his eyes look familiar. He’s definitely royalty, dressed in robes of silk and real velvet with silver buttons. Eren looks over at Levi, who suddenly looks nervous and a little afraid. It clicks.

“You look lovely in mother’s gown,” the man says. “It’s been such a long time, little brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi's big brother! Levi's big brother!
> 
> Update:  
> Due to HEAVY writer's block, this story is going on indefinite hiatus. Sorry :(


End file.
